Scythian Satyrs
Scythian Satyrs are an established Imperial Guard Regiment mostly operating and defending its namesake and homeworld - Scythis and the surrounding Agri-Worlds. Mostly dealing with pirates, outlaws and Ork raids among other xenos threats, Scythians have been known to run into trouble with forces of Chaos and some Space Marine chapters, namely Blood Wights. Scythian Satyrs have adapted a very mobile and effective combat doctrine throughout the years. Utilizing their light troops and supporting armor, like the Sentinel, the regiment can scout out and traverse any type of terrain in good speed and make vicious, tactical strikes against their enemy, either utilizing their heavy infantry weaponry or artillery bombardment. Throughout the years, the Regiment has fallen under Ministorum scrutiny due to the employment of convicts, outlaws and drug-users within its ranks. This has made the Satyrs highly regarded as a throwaway regiment even when compared to the Imperial Guard combat doctrine. However in the latest years, due to change in Scythian politics and mostly thanks to the Colonel Commander Vera Laurencius - the current commanding officer of the regiment, the Scythian Satyrs have become highly coordinated and effective. History Establishment The regiment was established in 799.M39 by the newly formed government of Hive-World Scythis. Due to the most able bodied population residing on agri-worlds and them being integral to the mega farms of these planets, and the rampant crime on Scythis called for extreme measures. Lord-Governor of Scythis sanctioned the forceful conscription of the lowborn of the Hive-World and the criminals from the Penal World of Epsilon-54 thus forming the Scythian Satyrs. For most of its existence the regiment has been regularly considered as a fairly incompetent force, mostly used by the Imperium as the first line of defense or to misdirect enemy attention. Subjugation of Tumulus In 12.M40 Scythian Satyrs were sent to investigate the sudden disappearance of Blood Wights chapter on the feral-world of Tumulus. Once the regiment arrived they were greeted by only the Dreadnoughts of the chapter and a message from Grand Chaplain Cornellius explaining that the entire chapter has fallen to a "curse" and were rendered to a catatonic deep sleep that will last for an unspecified amount of time. In a year some of the troops were heard whispering of a possibility of scavenging the Fortress-monastery. Negligence or incompetence on the part of commanders resulted in a quick uprising and soon the regiment was being lead by bloodthirsty, greedy criminals. They stormed the Catacombs of Wrathspire where to their surprise nearly the entire regiment was torn apart by the numerous Dreadnought sentinels and decisively driven out of the fortress. The routed deserters quickly escaped the planet and were never heard from again, likely turning to piracy or worse. WAAAGH! Scythis In 988.M40 Scythis reported sightings of a large Ork gathering beyond the levels of usual greenskin raids on the Scythian sub-sector and the protected worlds. The intelligence soon reported of an Ork WAAAGH! lead by Chief Bone-Krusha and his numerous followers. Desperate in their attempts to defend their home-world, local government started conscripting nearly every able bodied human from Scythis and Epsilon-45. Under the circumstances most convicts agreed, seeing as they were stuck defenseless on their prison world once the greenskin horde came through. Lord-Governor also requested aid from the Cyclops Cluster and even addressed Blood Wights, despite their past incident. Cyclops Governments sent a regiment of Imperial Guard to help in defense efforts and Blood Wights managed to send their 4th and 7th Tactical Companies. Waging war against the Ork tide was costly as as many as two Agri-worlds were completely ravaged and burned along with the penal-world of Epsilon-45, where Chief Skull-Krusha established his fortress. Through tactical maneuvering, Scythian Satyrs managed to taunt and draw the Chiefs attention to Scythis itself. The Hive-World of Scythis was a ripe target and Chief launched a full scale invasion on it. Using the newly requisitioned artillery such as Basilisks, Earthshakers and Manticores, Scythian Satyrs managed to traverse the familiar Hive cities using their light infantry and coordinate highly effective bombardments without losing too many of their forces, which could not be said about the Hives inhabitants. Ork force was too large for conventional tactics and they soon reached the main Hive, however in this moment it repaid to have allies, as the combined forces of Scythian Satyrs, Cyclops regiments and Blood Wights descended upon the Orks from all directions, annihilating the main horde and within a year hunting down the remnants within the ruins of the Hive cities. Although a sweeping victory in the end, this war cost Scythian governments two Agri-worlds, a penal-world which was still infested with Xenos and many Hive Cities on Scythis itself were ravaged. Due to the loss of its prime source of convict recruits, the Regiment then took on a more passive existence as they patrolled the sub-sector and fought occasional skirmishes on Epsilon-45 against the remains of the Skull-Krushas army. Civil War 966.M41 Scythian government is plunged into chaos after several heretical allegations and instabilities within the great houses of the Hive-World. Scythian Heresy Inquisition and namely Ordo-Hereticus sets its eyes on Scythis, once several reports of daemon worship are conveyed to the ever-listening ears of the Inquisitors. Witch Hunter Darion gathers a sizable regiment of Ordo-Hereticus and a number of Adepta Sororitas to purge the heresy from within the Scythian government. Working in secrecy and trying to root out the problem, the Inquisitor learns that the corruption runs much deeper than was expected, almost half of the families vying for power are reportedly corrupted and the situation escalates once an attempt on assassinating the Inquisitor happens. Darion openly declares Excommunicate Traitoris on all the families suspected of heresy and starts a purge within the Hives of the planet. The families, among which House Silenus, the major governing faction of Scythis, order Scythian Satyrs to regroup on the Hive-World at full force and defend the nobles. Ghost Army Commanding officer of the Scythian Satyr 3rd platoon - Vera Laurencius is contacted by the Inquisition among all the other leaders of the regiment, to lay down their arms and assist in the Inquisitorial matter. Unlike her comrades, she agrees to the request and forsakes her duty to the government, either due to her ambition or devotion to the Empire. Being one of the more cunning and deceitful commanders of the regiment, she calls in favors among the Imperial Guard and during an opportune time retracts her platoon to the Inquisitions side assisting in the purge of the Hives. Loyalist Scythian Satyrs start noticing strange disappearances and accidents happening among their ranks, sometimes even turning into situations where a personal guard assigned to a certain family would kill them and escape unnoticed. The tide would quickly turn to the Inquisitions side as this chain of unfortunate events would keep happening and none of the previous Scythian allies would respond for their plea to help. Siege of Bareen Eventually the only remaining heretics would be House Silenus who holed up in the Hive City of Bareen within their mansion with the remaining loyalist Scythian Satyrs, while more than half would switch to the Inquisitions side under the command of Vera Laurencius. Even Blood Wights who would previously not respond to the hails from Scythian government would send in several squads to aid the Inquisition. Laurencius' Satyrs would utilize small lightly armed squads to infiltrate and dismantle the Hives defenses and within a fortnight the city would be left with so many holes in its defense, Inquisitorial force would swarm it and eventually move in towards the Silenus mansion at the top of the spire. In desperation, Silenus leaders planned on a last ditch attempt at storming the Hive to board a ship, but before the order could be given, remaining Satyr guardsmen slaughtered the entire family and upon the arrival of the Inquisitor and Vera Laurencius, repented for their transgressions and said they were only following orders. Vera responded with ruthless justice and ordered execution of the remaining soldiers. Re-establishment of Satyrs Once the siege was concluded, Houses loyal to the Empire were left to fill the void of power under the watchful eye of the Inquisition and Vera Laurencius named Colonel-Commander of Scythian Satyrs. Under her command the regiment started a much more select and harsh recruitment of their troops, no longer relying on convicts or lowborn scum and rather picking the soldiers based on rigorous tests and evaluation. Valencia was also forced to work in close tandem with the Inquisition to support her position, and as such several Inquisitors and Witch Hunters would be assigned to the regiment. This resulted in regiments partly duty being the sussing out and eradication of heresy and daemonic cults. Characters Colonel-Commander Vera Laurencius Vera Laurencius was a lowborn from the very start, living in the lower levels of Scythis she witnessed all the corruption the world had to offer: smuggling, drugs, murder and even heresy. As she grew up all she wanted was to amount to something and escape her life, so she conscripted to Scythian Satyrs. Familiar with the types of people that would be usually conscripted to this regiment - scum, lowborn and criminals, she quickly learned to fend for herself and climb the military ladder, distinguishing herself on the battlefield and in command of her own squad. Many have called her ways of commanding the troops unsavory and even despicable, as she would deliberately use her soldiers as bait to move in for the objective herself and nearly compromise the mission, if not for her own skill. This prevented her from attaining any higher ranks for a long time. However when the Inquisition arrived to quell the heresy within Scythis, Vera saw an opportunity and a way to distinguish herself. Her efforts in the campaign were invaluable as she coordinated several key assassinations and tactical assaults which eventually lead to a victory and purging of heresy. As she was named Colonel-Commander of the regiment, Vera restructured Scythian Satyrs in a way to make them more effective and reliable as opposed to the throwaway force it was before. As she grew older and wiser, she eventually changed her strategies and tactics to be more effective, as several failed missions would occur after her inconsideration for her troops lives. She came to realize that on such a scale she could not sacrifice soldiers and rely simply on herself alone and soon changed her doctrine to be more conservative and strategic. This change of attitude without losing her ruthless and cunning edge eventually made her become highly regarded by her soldiers and peers as the amount of regiments victories grew. Commissar-General Konrad Hart An incredibly smart and cunning Commissar, he outpaced his comrades and quickly rose to the rank of Commissar-General at the age of 33. Same as most chosen for this role, Konrad was an orphan of war and very early on displayed tendencies of a leader and a tactician. In his early days he was appointed to the Scythian Satyrs as one of the squad commissars and throughout several campaigns managed to keep his squads alive with minimal losses and the objective surgically executed. Due to his quick wit he would even overrule squad captains orders and push his soldiers to make bold and unorthodox moves to accomplish the goals much more effectively. This trait and battle record granted him the position of Commissar-General at such an early age as 33. Despite having an extraordinary lack of empathy towards the soldiers under his command, he is highly interested in getting out with as little damage to his squad as possible. To counteract his cold nature, he is a fairly good motivational speaker and can rouse his troops when needed. Hart is often known to pull off risky battle tactics by executing one of his soldiers and push the rest to do the impossible. Inquisitor Valencia Knox The highest ranking Inquisitor of Scythian Satyrs she is often seen along Vera Laurencius, giving her advice and aiding on inquisitorial matter as well as acting as the middleman between the regiment and the Inquisition, due to their past with the Ordo Hereticus. Her early life was spent as a Sanctioned Psyker, being taken from home at a very early age. Her skill in battle and strength of will as well as her own ambition lead her to eventually become an Inquisitor. Most of her life serving as a Witch Hunter, now appointed as the Inquisitor in aid of the Regiment, Valencia is eager to uncover corruption and often spear-heads regiments battles. Highly skilled with both swords and pistols as well as adept at using the chaotic powers of the warp, she inspires awe in the Satyrs fighting alongside her. Recruitment The recruitment among Scythian Satyrs for a long time has been a very fast and chaotic cycle of troops. The military commander would sanction the conscription of any able bodied criminal from Epsilon-45 or the lowborn of Scythis and throw them right into the fray. This would result in the regiment becoming a very ineffective force, only being able to overrun their enemy by sheer numbers. However, this has recently changed as the command structure and the government of Scythis did too. Now with the loss of Epsilon-45 to Ork menace, recruits are conscripted after a few tests and rigorous but fast training. They are then separated into platoons based on their experience and assigned according to the importance of the campaigns. With the loss of Epsilon-45, the Penal World of Keres is now used as the recruitment planet for the Satyrs Penal Legion. Most of the time simply given a gun and told where to go, likely because of the Colonel-Commanders disdain for scum and criminals. Combat Doctrine Scythian Satyrs are known to employ lightly armored troops and vehicles that are able to traverse tight spaces on the battlefield and nearly any kind of terrain with ease. Despite the light armament the soldiers often employ heavy weapons based on the situation they are in, which makes them a glass-cannon force in a straight up encounter, but utilizing their mobility and sheer numbers they are able to ambush and surprise their enemies more often than not. Quite recently the doctrine has changed as the regiment started employing large numbers of artillery. This was done by using the already existing mobility and firepower of the soldiers and 'herding' them into the coordinated and concentrated artillery strikes. The regiment still employs a penal legion as part of its army, although as opposed to being the core force as it was in the past, the recruited convicts are largely used as cannon-fodder and distraction for the main force. Sending battalions of these convicts into the thick of battle they are often used to draw out the larger enemy force for a coordinated ambush or artillery bombardment, which often results in severe casualties on the penal legions side. A favored tactic is to deploy the Penal Legion at large to the battlefield and forcing the fight to the enemy in a blunt assault, meanwhile the support troops are setting up tactical barricades and artillery placements behind the battle. Once that is done, the penal legion retreats to the now fortified position drawing in the enemy force into coordinated artillery bombardment. The much more capable and specialized Guard along with Sentinels skim the battlefield harassing their enemy and destroying their tactical placements, while the battle rages and the Penal Legion takes the brunt of the attack. A lot of this strategy drives on the skill of the Penal Legion's Commissars who are expected to rally the convicts all the while fighting in the thick of battle. Equipment Weapons * Lasguns and Lascannons - the most common weapons used by the Satyrs, as is typical of nearly any Imperial Guard Regiment in the Imperium. * Autoguns and Heavy Stubbers - these weapons are almost exclusively used by the penal legion of the Guard. Louder and flashier than the Lasguns and Lascannons it only reinforces the penal legions purpose of being a distraction, while also giving them a considerable shock advantage and firepower. * Missile Launchers - these are often used by the highly mobile Satyr specialists to tactically take out the enemies Heavy supports and armored targets. * Hellguns - almost exclusively used by the Satyr Storm Troopers as is usual. Vehicles * Sentinels - the most common vehicle used by the Regiment, its high mobility and firepower works perfectly with the Satyr's combat tactics. Often accompanying the Guard squads to provide heavy ground support and suppressing fire. * Valkyries - this airborne transport is most commonly used to drop down the elite Storm Troopers into the battle or behind enemy lines, to take out tactical enemy placements, all while providing heavy firepower. Is also interchanged with the Vendetta for fights against armored targets. * Leman Russ Punisher - a good number of these are used by the Satyr Penal Legion to mow down lightly armored targets and often their own allies, due to the trigger happy, convict crew. * Leman Russ Vanquisher - Only in posession of a couple of these powerful battle tanks, they are rarely deployed in battle and only in the largest campaigns. Used to great effect against highly armored enemy vehicles, these war machines have often turned the battle in the favor of Satyrs. * Basilisk - Satyrs employ an unusually large amount of these artillery pieces, taking great use of their long range and capability to destruction. Often dropped off at a considerable distance from the main force in large numbers, the Basilisks reign terror and destruction on their enemies and have been known to demolish a much larger enemy force. * Manticore Missile Tank/Launcher - Another piece of artillery employed in large numbers by the Satyrs, this particular vehicle is most often used in the Penal Legion due to its instability and potential friendly fire. Quotes By About Category:Imperium Category:Imperial Guard Regiments Category:Argus Cluster